Monday, June 27, 2011

This one comes to us from AOL News (big shock, right?), in an article about a woman who hoards dolls:"Part of the problem is that she and her son are running out of space because of the dolls, the weight of which is comprising the structural integrity of their house."

Seriously? The weight of dolls comprises the structural integrity?

COMPRISE: "Consist of; to be made up of."

So, by that rationale ... the entire structural integrity of the house is made up of DOLLS, right? Man, I'd like to see what that must look like!

I think the word they're looking for isCOMPROMISING: As in, "To reduce in quality, value, or degree; weaken or lower."

Once again, I must weep at the realization that I am witnessing the death of the written word as I know it.

Link to original article: http://weirdnews.aol.com/2011/06/23/doll-hoarding-grandmother_n_882320.html

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Welcome to a new segment in my blog ... let's call it "The Typo of the Day" (however, to be honest, I doubt I'll post one every day).

Today's Typo come to us from Fox 41 News in Louisville, KY:"Does it happen? Yes. Is it surprising? No. That's the reason these statues are on the books. It's fairly coincidental that these two merged together at a similar time."

That's right people ... thanks be to [insert deity name of choice here] that we have those "STATUES on the books."

Maybe this is what's wrong with the Louisville Schools?

After all, how are kids supposed to read books when you've got STATUES on them?!!!

I now realize that I will likely live long enough to witness the slow & painful death of the written word with my own eyes ... great.

Where is Ray Bradbury when I need him?

Here is a link to the original article: http://www.fox41.com/story/14930374/jcps-bus-driver-and-principal-both-cleared-of-criminal-charges

Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Some new schedule changes have come up in recent weeks, as far as my appearances go.

A number of people have been asking me whether I will be attending the Paranormal Research Society’s “Field Trip 12” in Salem, Mass. Unfortunately I have not yet secured a confirmation for that event. However, when I have an answer I promise to let everyone know.

Please keep in mind that the folks at the PRS have been VERY generous in inviting me as a guest speaker to their past two field trips, and it would not surprise me if they’d like to open up the slot for a new speaker this time around. And I continue to have nothing but good things to say about all the folks on the PRS crew for all their interest and generosity at FTX & FTXI.

In other news, I have confirmed a couple of new appearances. Since I promised that I would maintain an appearance schedule on this blog, I figure this a good time to post an update.

As of 6/08/11, my schedule of upcoming confirmed appearances is as follows:

June 10th & 12th 2011—A-KON 22: I will be giving two panels at the A-Kon 22 anime convention at the Dallas Sheraton in Dallas, TX. The 6/10/11 (7:30pm in State Room 2) panel topic is “Anime, Myth, & Naruto,” but this is actually going to be an examination of Naruto as a Japanese manifestation of the Arthurian myth, followed by a Q&A. The 6/12/11 (12:45pm in State Room 3) panel topic is “Anime/Manga & the Shinto Revival,” in which we will take a look at Shinto elements in various anime such as Naruto and XXXholic, as well as the interesting interpretations of the Shinigami idea in various manga/anime, followed by a Q&A.

September 2nd – 5th 2011—COPPERCON 31: I will be giving 2-3 panels on various topics from Voodoo to zombies & werewolves at this Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention at the Hilton Garden Inn in Avondale, AZ (link: www.coppercon.org). More details on this appearance will follow.

And I have another unconfirmed (but likely) appearance:I am supposed to be giving another presentation at the Richardson Public Library in Richardson, TX at some date in October. A specific date has yet to be confirmed, but I will post details as they become available.

My publicist has been trying to reach the folks at Creation Entertainment in order to secure an appearance at one or two of their upcoming “Salute to Supernatural” conventions … but, as of this morning, they still have yet to receive a reply to any of the query emails.

WOULD YOU LIKE FOR ME TO COME SPEAK IN YOUR AREA?if you are the host of, or know of, any convention, library, or other venue that would be interested in hosting me for a panel, presentation, or lecture, please feel free to pass along a link to this blog. I can always be reached via comments. I never charge for appearances (unless the cost of travel is beyond my budget, in which case I only ask for travel/board to be provided or reimbursed). My only condition is that I be allowed to sell books/merchandise at the event.

Thanks, folks. For those coming to A-Kon 22, I will see you folks soon. As for the rest of you, I will try to post on my A-Kon experience when I get back next week.

Friday, June 3, 2011

After my recent post regarding why it is okay to be wrong about spirituality, I have found myself continually pondering the whole idea of “wrongness.”

Maybe this is because I am somewhat of an expert at being wrong. And, in at least one respect, I think that my aptitude for “wrongness” has served me quite well. Perhaps I should clarify what I mean, in this particular case, by “wrongness.”

There are a number of skills, actions, etc. that, throughout my life I have always done “the wrong way”:

• I hold my pen/pencil “the wrong way”• I tie my shoes “the wrong way”• I frequently shake the carbonation out of soda before I drink it (“That’s the wrong way to drink a Coke,” someone once told me)• I learned to read two years before before I learned to write (“So you learned it the wrong way,” a teacher once said to me)

However, I am of the opinion that this whole idea of doing something “The wrong way” is just a load of bull.

I would venture to say that I write well enough, despite how I hold a writing utensil … I would even say that I write more than well enough, to be honest, considering the fact that I now make my living at it. I take great pride in this, since my 3rd Grade teacher screamed at me “You’ll NEVER be a writer! How could you, when you’re too STUPID to even hold a pencil right?” (for her part, this rant occurred during a fit that she had after spending a number of futile months trying to force me to change how I held my pen/pencil, by use of these tyrannical little rubber triangles that I consistently chewed down into pencil cushions)

My shoes have never fallen off … and since I am the type who tends to trip over my shoelaces, I have found that my way works better.

Shaking the carbonation out of soda basically turns it into caffeine-infused sugar water … and this is a method I adopted back in my martial arts competition days … I learned that doing this allows the soda to give the drinker more energy, and more quickly.

It’s true that I somehow managed to figure out the basics of reading around the age of 3 (no one seems to know how this happened … but my favorite theory is that it was due to all the Sesame Street and Electric Company I was watching on a daily basis). However, until I was around 5 years old I lived under the mistaken belief that the act of writing consisted of scribbling lines of continuous zig-zags on a piece of paper while saying your thoughts out loud. And, once again, it was due to television. You see, the only actual writing I had ever witnessed by the time I was three years old was on Charles Schultz’s Charlie Brown. When ol’ Charlie Brown would write, we would hear his inner monologue as a series of zig-zagging lines scrolled across his paper. For years, I would take pages of these to my parents and ask what they meant. And for some reason they always made something up, and it was never what I’d intended to write … which only led me to wonder what I was doing wrong to cause the meanings to change. Luckily, a year before I hit kindergarten, my father finally got sick of me bringing him page after page of nonsense and told me “It doesn’t mean ANYTHING, Nathan! You know how to read, don’t you? To write you just make the same letters that you read.”

Wow…talk about a light bulb going off. Even at 5-years-old, I couldn’t believe I’d never made that connection. So, I began working on writing every day. Believe it or not … this is also why I hold my pencil/pen “wrong.” My “closed fist” style of holding my writing utensil eventually evolved into a weird, chopstick-like posture that I use to this day.

Sorry for the digression … but I needed to explain these in order to make my next point about doing things “the wrong way.”

WHO SAYS?

Seriously. Who decided that there was only one “right” way to hold a pencil? And that any other method was “wrong”?

The same with all the rest of my examples.

When someone has told me I was doing something the wrong way, I would always ask them WHY it was wrong. If I didn’t like their answers … I did it my own way.

Not to say that there haven’t been times when this has come back to bite me in the ass … but that’s a subject for another day.

So, the next time someone tells you that you are doing something “the wrong way,” I challenge you to reply with something along the lines of “Says who?” or “What makes it wrong?”

If you don’t feel that their answer justifies their claim of “wrongness” … then forget ‘em. Do it your own way … find your own path.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

I would like to start by saying I am sorry for not posting much this last week.

I promise that I will be putting up a "real" blog post in the next day or two.

In the meantime, however, I wanted to let everyone know that I am scheduled to be a guest on the Mancow Morning Madhouse radio show (I believe the station is based in Chicago at TALK 105.1 FM), talking about zombies (of course), on Wednesday June 8th at 6am (CST) ... so, if you are a morning person, come have a listen.

I am certainly NOT a morning person, but this is noationally syndicated radio. So I guess I will just have to deal with it.

I'll survive (I hope, LOL).

On that note: God Bless You, CDC, for all the free zombie publicity you have been putting out lately. LOL

NRB

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About Me

Nathan Robert Brown (1977-present) is an author, pop culture mythologist, and technical writer from Texas, currently residing in Florida. He received the 2008 Harry Brown Award for The Rape of Lilith. Nathan has done extensive research in world mythology, folklore, urban legends, ancient civilizations, and world religions, and is an expert on trinities/tripartite systems and universal themes in myth, religion, mysticism, and pop culture. He is the author of many books, such as The Complete Idiot's Guide to World Mythology, World Religions at Your Fingertips, The Mythology of Supernatural, and The Mythology of Grimm. Nathan is also a public speaker and pro-bono demonology consultant